Totoka River dearheart

she was rapt, a captive audience to starbuck's craft; she loomed closer, unknowingly so, drinking in the others inviting and enticing scent, verdant green holding fast to river-blue, as the other spoke firstly. "yes" the other had said, and deirdre's head tilted and lifted both, a curious and expressive inquiry: yes????

an audible exhale was given. she had not known she held her breath so, but she had! as starbuck went on, deirdre was alert. twas her turn to ruminate, now. a tempest brewed within her, and it was her eyes that were filled with the brunt of the terrible storm. she was lost in its winds, quiet for a long while. and as she looked to the legs, the way they had fallen to the earth, she bore witness to the words, interpreted and defined the picture into what she knew this must mean for her. i see, she breathed, the storm, having run its course within her, erupting from her lips in its powerful knowing. and see she did! she looked to starbuck with a new sort of clarity within her eyes--but there, also, lingered some semblance of honest fear!

do you mean that i must do this, alone? she wondered, her focus returned wholly to the exotic starbuck.